


the other side of the door

by LilaacStars



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, F/M, destination? happy ending but oh boy it ain't gonna be easy, haha adrien wish what you want you know you love her, ill tag more things and character as they appear, it's some kind of 17 AGAIN AU, welcome to the angsty train make yourself comfortable it's gonna be a long ride
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-09-14 13:38:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9183937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilaacStars/pseuds/LilaacStars
Summary: " “ADRIEN AGRESTE AND MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG ARE GETTING A DIVORCE!"- more details on page 6... "Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain Cheng were truly madly deeply in love with each other. Then life gave a 180° turn.Adrien wishes to a shooting star to never have crossed paths with Marinette. Next day he wakes up on his bed, eight years younger with the choice to re-do his life.*indefinite hiatus *





	1. He Walks Away

**Author's Note:**

> This is sort of a 17 Again AU with some twists of my own.  
> they are gonna be a little OOC but we need that for the fic to take it's course, they are going to be back soon ;)
> 
> edit 1: there was a continuity error, sorry! but i fixed it x

**_“ADRIEN AGRESTE AND MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG ARE GETTING A DIVORCE”- more details on page 6_ **

The front page of the newspaper welcomed him at the office. The tabloid seemed to be written in neon lights rather than in the bold Arial font. Though he tried to avoid gossip newspapers and magazines, these kind of news were impossible to ignore.

He took the paper in his hands, walked to the closest chair on the roundtable and sat on it. The secretary followed him, putting a cup of tea in front of him. Adrien thanked her and took a sip of the red warm tea. Then he read the title one more time and flipped the pages until he found the article.

It wasn’t the first time he found this same tabloid on a magazine, it may be the fifth or sixth time he read the same title displayed on the cover of one. He perfectly remembered the first time he had seen one of those. It had been years ago, months after the day of their wedding.

He was walking home after a long day at the office, trying to hide in the shadows of the old buildings, ignoring stranger's eyes and hoping to avoid known ones when his sight stumbled with the magazine. He couldn’t help but laugh.

He bought the magazine, looking at it with the biggest grin, flipping through the pages, reading the article and trying to contain his laugh as he walked home. He couldn’t wait to show the tabloid to Marinette.

When he finally made it home, Marinette was preparing herself a coffee, as she read something on her phone. She heard him enter, turning around to welcome him with open arms.

“Hello, handsome boy! How was your day?” She threw herself into his arms, softly kissing his cheek.

“Bonsoir, my lady” He kissed her cheek back “It was interesting” Adrien shook his head “Did you know we are getting a divorce?”

Marinette rose a brow, confused by his words.

He, already laughing about the situation, pulled the magazine out of his briefcase and showed it to Marinette.

She had laughed. She had joked about, _they_ had joked about it.

It was the same the second and the third time, the fourth didn’t bring many laughs… Adrien couldn’t remember if there was a fifth, but whatever this one was, it only brought a bitter taste to his mouth. Because this time it was real.

Adrien Agreste, the former model, old CEO of _Agreste’s Designs_ and now unemployed heartthrob, was getting divorced of Marinette DPC, former intern at _Agreste’s Designs_ , the old owner of _Tikki’s_ and new CEO of _Agreste’s Designs._

They were getting a divorce.

Chat Noir was getting a divorce of Ladybug. But no one knew that.

The only thing they knew is that their golden couple, the couple they had described as perfect, as “relationship goals” had ended.

Never in a million years had he thought he would find himself in this situation.

He unbuttoned the collar of his shirt, it was too tight because of the navy blue tie he was wearing today. But the tie wasn’t the only one to blame for feeling breathless.

It felt like the room was spinning around, the minimalist black and white decoration felt closer, like the plain walls and the big windows of the office were about to crash into each other. Adrien felt hot, dizzy and nauseous, he didn’t want to be there.

“Don’t be nervous, I got this under control,” His lawyer told him. Frederic was an old family friend who had offered him his help years ago when hell had broke loose, that time he had refused, but when he realized he may need a lawyer, he had called immediately. Frederic had taken the first plane and visited him at the apartment he was renting.

“Have you thought what I ask you to?” Frederic whispered, not wanting the secretary to listen to their conversation.

“Yes,” Adrien nodded “She can keep the stupid company, I don’t care,”

“Are you sure? It has your name, after all, Adrien and since you’re unemployed--

“I couldn’t care less about _Agreste’s Designs_ , she can change the name if she wants to. I don’t want anything to do with it”

“Okay, okay… but what about the money?”

“You said you could handle that,"

“When I said that I didn't know you had not made her sign a prenuptial agreement, Adrien,”

“Well, sorry! Cut me some slack, at that time I didn’t believe I was going to need one,” He huffed. Ignoring any further words from him, he kept reading the article on the magazine.

Of course, they were painting Marinette as the good one. Across the years the public’s love for the girl had only grown, and Adrien understood it was an easy thing to do, Marinette was lovely, and she wasn’t Papillon’s daughter, that’s for sure.

“Adrien” Frederic touched his shoulder, making him look up and away from the newspaper.

Marinette’s tall and bony lawyer entered the room, but Adrien couldn’t care less about her, not when Marinette was right behind her.

Her hair was in a tall ponytail, a few pieces of hair falling around her face, some of them just above her bright blue eyes. She was wearing more makeup than the usual -Adrien could tell even from this distance- but she wasn’t wearing red lipstick which was a shame and a relief at the same time.

She was wearing an old, yet elegant, pine green princess's dress with a black blazer on top. It was the kind of outfit she wore for an important business interview, to cause a good impression and look put together, and well, she did. That made Adrien mad.

He pressed his hands in fists, grabbing the fabric of his suit pants between his fingers, trying to control his anger.

She looked good. Why did she look so good? It wasn’t fair.

“Monsieur Lockwood, Monsieur Agreste” Marinette’s lawyer extended her hand and shook Frederic’s hand, then offered to Adrien who ignored it.

“Madame Bureau, Madame Dupain-Cheng” Frederic greeted politely.

“Salute, M. Lockwood” Marinette smiled at him, then drift her eyes to his soon to be ex-husband “Morning, Adrien”

Adrien acknowledged her with a fake smile if you could call that expression a smile 

“Should we begin?” Madame Bureau asked, at what Marinette and Frederic agreed. Adrien kept silence and let the lawyers begin.

Adrien kept trying to ignore Marinette’s eyes as they spoke about the clauses and re-read the list of agreements he had already set up.

Marinette gets the apartment, Adrien gets the cat. Marinette gets the car; Adrien gets the beach house in Mallorca. Those were the ones he remembered, the ones he cared about at least. He didn’t care what part of their life together went to him or what part went to her, he just wanted to end with this and to be left alone.

“What do you think, Adrien?” Marinette asked. Though her voice and her smile were lovely, he knew her better than anyone, and behind those sugar-coated actions, there was hate and anger.

“Yeah, whatever you want” He nodded, still avoiding her sight.

“You didn’t listen, did you?” She asked. Rage was starting to leak on her words. “Do you have somewhere else to go or—

“Nowhere, I’m unemployed. It’s funny that you don’t remember that since you gave me such hard time about it,”

“Adrien,” Marinette said between her teeth.

“My lady?” He asked, using the nickname out of habit. He saw Marinette’s face turn red.

“Do not call me that.” She said so fast that Adrien almost missed it. “I’m not your lady, not anymore”

“Well, technically we still haven’t’ signed the papers so—

“Can you take this serious, Adrien?” Marinette stood up, crashing the palms of her hands against the table, making the teacups tremble.

“Wow, princess” Adrien leaned back. He knew he should have kept his mouth shut, but his brain didn’t seem to work properly today. The last time she had seen her and spoke to her had been three weeks ago when she popped up at his apartment to make sure he knew the time for today’s reunion. And that had been it, which clearly wasn’t enough for him.  

The last time he had seen her and talked to her had been three weeks ago when she popped up at his apartment to make sure he knew the time for today’s reunion and to tell him that she would give him the cat once he had a stable place to live. And that had been it, which clearly wasn’t enough for him.  

“This is not a game!” Marinette shouted at him.

Adrien knew that, but he couldn’t help himself. He didn’t understand his own thoughts or feelings.

“There’s no need to yell, Marinette” Her lawyer took her hand, trying to calm her down.

“He is not taking this seriously! He always has to act like a kid!”

“Act like a kid?!” Adrien stood up too, throwing the chair behind him, “When did I ever got the chance to act like a kid? I never could be a kid or a teenager, no, no, I always had to be an adult. Childhood? Full of classes and training, no friends around. Teen years? My mother goes missing, I got to suffer through it without my father and I start modeling, I start working” He huffed “Double time! You know that well!  I have always had to act like an adult!”

“You’re not acting like one now! You may have acted like an adult your whole life, but when it is really essential for you to be then you act childish!”

“Well, forgive me, princess!” Adrien faked a laugh “You know what? I do have somewhere else to be. Excuse me”

“Adrien,” Frederic tried to catch him by his arm, but Adrien was faster and was already at the door before he could even turn.

“Don’t leave me!” Marinette shouted, running behind him.

That had been a strange choice of words, probably not what Marinette wanted to say, but given the chance, Adrien took it.

“Like you did?” Adrien asked, this time he was shouting, he was asking it seriously.

“Don’t play the victim, Adrien” Marinette gasped. “We both did things we regret—

“Like killing my father?” Marinette froze at the words. That had been a low hit; he knew it and he had said it anyway.

Marinette didn’t answer and Adrien left without saying anything else and slamming the door behind him.

**xx**

“She is just being irrational,” Adrien said, carefully placing his beer on top of the circle table in front of him.

“Is she?” The drunk guy at his side asked leaning against the same table, making Adrien take his beer again.

“Yes, she is. Would you be on my side for ten fucking minutes?”

“I don’t know your girl, I cannot be on her side,”

“Still” Adrien growled. If he knew her he would take her side, everyone in their sane mind would take Marinette’s side. She was pretty and charismatic, lovely and optimistic; she would convince everyone to jump on her wagon. “I just don’t understand why you guys can’t fix this without breaking up. You say you had been to so much together, you love each other—

“I just don’t understand why you guys can’t fix this without breaking up. You say you had been to so much together, you love each other—

“Sometimes love isn’t enough.” Adrien cut.

As much as he wished love was enough to keep the two of them together, it was foolish to think they could leave behind all the problems that had appeared on the road.

He had heard the same phrase from different strangers and he always cut them with the same phrase. It was how life worked, sometimes love wasn’t enough, no matter how much it hurt to admit it.

Because the truth is that Adrien still loved Marinette with every fiber of his soul but he couldn’t be around her anymore.

It was painful to watch her, to be around such a lively and perfect person when he was a mess destined to suffer in silence. She didn’t understand him, she tried but she was never going to be able to understand him.

Things hadn’t been like that all the time, at the beginning of their relationship things were good. She was like a warm tea on a cold day, she was the tenderness of the day, the reason why the sun shined brighter.

They had revealed their identities by request of the Big Guardian, they had grown to be close friends, closer than they had ever been. In and out of costume they were inseparable and not long passed for them to start dating, it was like they were meant to be.

They studied together, they fought together, they walked together, they dreamt of a future together. They thought they were going to be together forever. The reality was a bit different.

Thought they were going to sign the divorce papers just this year, their relationship had given a turn of 180° the day they had defeated Papillon, four years ago.

Just like his father had died in battle, a part of their relationship died that day.

“Do you want another drink?” The stranger asked him, shaking his empty shot glass in front of him.

“No, I'm fine, I’ll buy you another round if that’s what you want” What were a few more Euros?

“Thanks, man!” The stranger patted his back, making Adrien tense at the touch.

Adrien left the cash on the bar before leaving the guy alone and go to the second floor of the bar. He had been there so many times that he could go up those stairs without falling, no matter how drunk he was.

The top of the bar was just as crowded as the first floor, but the terrace wasn’t. It was reasonable, it was a cold night in January, people preferred to be inside as they drank and spoke with their friends, but for someone who wanted to be alone, it was the perfect place.

Adrien opened the window door and took a step outside, feeling the chilly air crash against him. The winter breeze and the smell of rain were strong, and it was just what Adrien needed.

He leaned against the barriers of the terrace and stared at the horizon, looking at the roofs of the houses and the brick pipes. Bright lights shining and twinkling, Paris in all its lovely being was in front of him and he didn’t mind.

He took his phone out of the suit jacket hidden pocket, immediately tapping the contacts and searching for the letter N.

Time ago, he wouldn’t hesitate, he would tap on the name and call knowing he would answer, knowing he would have a wonderful talk with a friend, now he knew that the probability of Nino answering the phone was inexistent.

He wished he could talk to him, but his relationship with his ex-best friend took a similar path than his relationship with Marinette. And if he was talking about relationships, he could take the time to say that every friendship had turned sour, slowly drifting apart. Even Chloé had left him.

Adrien dropped the phone to the floor, he didn’t care anymore, the only person who would call him was Frederic and he didn’t want to hear from him.

He focused on the night sky, not a star shining thanks to the lights of the city. But it was a beautiful sky, for some reason it always made him remember Plagg. How he wished he could be there, but he was gone, just like everybody else.

Like some sort of miracle, a white light appeared in the sky, crossing it fast it caught Adrien’s attention.

It couldn’t be a shooting star, you couldn’t see that in Parisian sky, the logical answer was that it was an airplane but in that moment, Adrien didn’t want to be rational.

In an instinctive reflex, he put one hand in his pocket and took the lucky charm Marinette had given to him in what seemed to be an eternity away.

Holding it close against the palm of his hand, squeezing it so hard that one of the charms broke, Adrien Agreste made a wish at the star on the sky.

_“I wish I had never met her”_


	2. EMPTY APARTMENT

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few chapters are gonna include flashbacks, I think is necessary so you can understand how these dorks ended up in this awful situation :(

His feet weren’t cold when he woke up, that was… weird.

Thanks to his absurd mistake, they were always, always, _without exception_ : cold.

Since Marinette had kept the apartment (she had decorated the whole flat, it was only fair) he had been living in hotels until a few weeks ago he moved into a new little flat close to _Place Vendôme_ ; Marinette’s least favorite place in all Paris.

A new apartment needed new furniture, but Adrien didn’t plan to stay that long, so he only purchased the essentials; between those, blankets and covers for his bed.

Being the first time he bought those kinds of things by himself, of course, he had mistaken the measures of the bed and ended up buying a pack of blankets that were too short for the bed.

He should have returned those weeks ago, but his pride prohibited him from doing so and instead of being warm at night, he woke up with his feet freezing.

But today wasn’t the case and thought he noticed he didn’t give it the required attention, he had been distracted by a headache he was facing. It hurt like needles had been encrusted in his scalp.

He threw the blankets off him and rolled his body to be at the edge of the bed, slowly letting himself fall to touch the floor. He pressed his cheek against the cold wood floor and stared at the door of the bathroom for a few seconds before standing up.

Stretching his arms behind his back and rolling his neck around to wake up, he decided it was time to get ready for another day.

He didn’t look at his mobile phone as he did every morning; he knew it was going to be filled with missing calls of Marinette and maybe one or two voice mails of her telling him how disappointed she was of him. Or maybe she couldn’t leave one, Adrien’s mailbox could be full with all those undeleted voicemails he refused to get rid of. Half of them were for a time that was too far from him today, words that Marinette had said with love, words that only remained in the past and in those voice mails.

He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but sometimes at night, he would play them on repeat, to remember how it was to hear her voice close to him.

_Marinette, Marinette, Marinette._

Could he stop thinking about her for just a minute?

As a miracle, his wish came true. Any thought of Marinette and her lovely voice evaporated from his mind when he saw his reflection in the squared mirror hanging in his bathroom.

He grabbed the sides of the sink with his hands and leaned closer to the mirror, inspecting the reflection. He moved his head around, opened and closed his eyes, made faces and hit himself in the face a few times, but nothing changed the image in front of him.

_What the hell was going on?_

Adrien slapped each of his cheeks again, as strong as he could, trying to wake up from the nightmare he was immersed in, but nothing changed besides the color of his skin, turning red for the hits.

Probably, if years ago the impossible hadn’t knocked at his door –well, more like appeared on his coffee table- he would keep believing that this was a dream, but Adrien knew better.

Trying to keep calm, Adrien closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Focusing on how the air flowed through his body, how his muscles contracted and how the air returned to the outside. Only that mattered, and only that would matter in the next minutes until he was able to think straight.

What could have happened last night to make him look younger? What kind of crazy magic had been unleashed? Was this some kind of punishment?

Adrien opened his eyes. The reflection in front of him was still the same, a younger version of himself. He didn’t remember to have changed so much, but he could see now that he had.  His cheeks were chubbier, his jaw wasn’t so sharp and there was barely any hair on his face.

If he looked like this he was probably around seventeen, going eighteen. He didn’t look like a baby, ;but he wasn't full grown yet puberty had taken his time with Adrien. Marinette used to tease him about that, oh but at eighteen the tables had turned. That had been so much fun.

Adrien stopped himself from smiling. To bring back those memories was nothing but masochism. If only his wish from last night had come true.

_Wait a minute. Could that— No, that was crazy._

But Adrien was used to crazy.

He ran back to his room, kneeling on the floor and searching for his suit pants. Inside in the left pocket was the lucky charm Marinette had given him many years ago.

He wasn’t sure why his gut had made him look for it, but he hadn’t been wrong. Instead of being broken as it was supposed to be, the charm had been fixed. No cracks, no missing pieces, it was complete. But there was a difference: the colors had changed. There was no more greens and pinks, the bracelet was completely white.

“What does this mean?” Adrien whispered, examining the charm.

Had his wish come true? No, it hadn’t. he still knew who Marinette was and he still loved her. This hadn’t been his wish, but clearly, it had to do with it, it was the only thing that made sense.

He still remembered Marinette but he was seventeen, how did these two facts connected with each other?

“I’m a teen,” Adrien said staring at his hands “I’m not an adult anymore, I’m not twenty-five… what does this mean, what does this mean” He kept mumbling, biting his nails, trying to put the pieces together “Has anyone gone back to be a teen?”

Adrien jumped from the floor to his bed and crawled until he reached the nightstand where his _Macbook_ was charging. He pulled it to his lap and opened, impatiently waiting for the machine to load so he could search for Alya’s blog.

Alya didn’t run the Ladyblog anymore; she had opened a more serious blog that she actualized daily. She posted news, she wrote articles and she always posted a _selfie_ to her thousands of followers.

For his luck, today’s _selfie_ was a picture of her and Nino, eating breakfast at their office. Nothing had changed for them, they were still adults and they were working on a new documental together.

The next step would have been to check on Marinette, but he didn’t have the guts. So he just assumed she was still an adult too.

“I’m a teen, they are still twenty-five,” Adrien murmured to himself and that’s when an idea popped up “They are still twenty-five. Marinette is still twenty-five! She expects me to be twenty-five too!”

He might still know Marinette, but he had a way to walk away from her! Never in a million years, would Marinette think to look for a younger version of him.

He could re-do his life without Marinette!

He may still remember her, but he didn’t have to be around her, he could be a teenager again and do all the things he wanted to do and was never able to. He was in advantage over any other teenager, he had made mistakes and now he knew how to avoid them. He could avoid all that people who had left him behind.

He could avoid Marinette. Maybe his wish came true after all.

 

**Three and a half months ago…**

_Marinette was wearing her hair up._

_He was used to seeing her wearing her hair tied up in different hairstyles over the years, it wasn’t something that would light up alarms, not if she just had come back from work._

_Marinette hated when her hair fell in front of her eyes when she was working, there the reason why she usually wore it up. She had done it in school, she had done it when she was at university when she worked on her last show when she designed at late hours at night._

_Marinette used to wear her hair up when she was deep into business. But right now she was just staring at the mug in front of her on the dinner table, a mug of coffee she had poured herself at least fifteen minutes ago, and Adrien hadn’t seen her take one sip of it. She had taken it and placed it in front of her, by the folders she had brought from work._

_He had been mad about it, Marinette worked all day and all night, she didn’t make time for anything but work. She brought home piles of papers and infinite blinders with new designs and concepts on them, she threw them in the dining room and she paced back and forth with a cup of coffee and the phone against her ear. Cups of coffee accumulated in the table and the papers flipped through the table. She only stopped to ask him if he wanted to eat something with her, but she always seemed so distant that Adrien declined. He wanted her present in dinner and something told him that she would only be focused on his work. Just like his father._

_But that day it had been different._

_There were papers and designs and pieces of fabric around the table but his wife wasn’t moving. She just stared at the distance with empty eyes, and yet she had her hair up, why wasn’t she working?_

_Adrien stood from the navy blue couch where he had been lying as he read one of the many books he had purchased that week. He left the book open on the coffee table in front of him; he checked it twice before walking to Marinette, to make sure he didn’t lose the page._

_Marinette didn’t notice he was moving towards her; apparently, she was too invested in the shape of the mug to be aware of anything else._

_Adrien stood behind her, waiting for her old superhero reflex to kick out, but nothing happened. He took the point of the blue ribbon of her ponytail and pulled it, making Marinette’s hair fall in cascade on top of her shoulders._

_“Hey” She whispered. She didn’t sound mad or amused, he expected her to be one of those two. He couldn’t place the emotions in her voice and neither in her face once she turned to face him._

_“If you’re not gonna work you should have your hair down” Adrien passed his finger through the dark locks of his wife. There were tangles as he brushed but he didn’t mind, it was still soft and it was still hers, it was just perfect._

_“Do you remember the last time you brushed my hair like that?” Marinette’s voice was low and it trembled, if they hadn’t been alone without any sound around them, Adrien wouldn’t have been able to hear her._

_He closed his eyes, trying to remember what she had asked. Nothing came to his mind, he couldn’t place it, it wasn’t something he kept track on. And what did she meant with that question?_

_“Do you?” He asked, raising a brow at her._

_“Yes,” She nodded “It was two months ago, the last time we had sex, and you only did it because I had a feather in my hair and it was about to make you sneeze”_

_“Your point?” Adrien said between his teeth, he was clenching his jaw, a muscle popping out because of the pressure._

_Marinette ignored the question and made one of her own “Do you remember why we had sex that time?”_

_“Because we are married and we want each other in that way? Where do you want to get to, Marinette?”_

_“Because you were mad at me and I was tired and we started to fight, but none of us wanted to scream to each other, so we ended up having angry sex” She sighed “That’s basically what happens every time we discuss, we shut up each other like that.”_

_“You’re exaggerating” He huffed, “Look if you’re tired of work: don’t throw it at me”_

_Marinette let out a big chuckle before looking right into Adrien’s eyes._

_“I’m not exaggerating, it’s not easy to have a count when those are the only moments your husband notices you, Adrien,”_

_“I do notice you,” He spit back “I realized you were staring at the infinite right now, I came to ask if something was wrong!”_

_“But you did not,”_

_“You didn’t let me! Why do you want to start a fight so bad, Marinette?”_

_“Because generally you’re the one who starts them, and I’m tired!”Adrien wanted to say something but Marinette continued “Tell me when was the last time you had a decent conversation with me; Tell me when was the last time you stood up from the couch to receive me with open arms and kiss me. Tell me when was the last time you called me by any nicknames you ever called me. Tell me the last time you teased me. Tell me the last time this felt like a marriage,”_

_“Wait, wait, wait,” Adrien pinched the bridge of his nose “You’re implying that this is my fault?”_

_Adrien didn’t mind to ask about what she meant with those questions, he felt the same way she felt about it. He just couldn’t believe Marinette could be so hypocritical._

_She was the one who spent her time traveling, she was the one who drowned in paperwork, she was the one who did not give a minute of his day to him. She was the one who smiled when he was suffering, she was the one who was having a great life as he wanted to jump out of a cliff or press a reset button._

_If someone had ruined this marriage, it had been her._

_“Are you implying that it is mine?”_ Uh, yeah. _“You are…”_

_“I don’t want to fight, really, can we just get over it. You do whatever you want to, I’ll go back to my book,”_

_“No!”_

_“Why do you want to fight so badly, Marinette?!” He didn’t scream but his tone went up a level, too angry to keep calm._

_“I don’t know! To feel something I guess? To see if you care?”_

_That hurt._

_“We barely talk, Adrien. You live in a bubble and won’t let me in. If we don’t talk we are arguing. If we are not arguing we are having sex and then we feel guilty and sad. This is getting messier and messier as months pass and I’ve been trying to do things right, tried to patch and fix it but I can’t do it any longer, I can’t keep pretending that there’s a way back to what we were” She gasped “I don’t want to stay until I hate you,”_

_“What does that mean?”_

_“It means—” Marinette’s lips trembled and her eyes shone brighter, the tears were beginning to accumulate on her eyes but she didn’t let them fall “—that I think we should get a divorce”_

_The words didn’t hit immediately, but when they did, the world around Adrien completely disappeared._

_In the deepest corner of his heart, something broke and it started a chain reaction. It felt like his body was bursting into flames, burning his skin and exposing every nerve to the open air… that’s how much it hurt to hear her say those words._

_His mother had left him, it had crashed his soul at the moment and years after he still carried the weight of having a missing mother, but he was used to it, it wasn’t something that kept him awake at night anymore._

_His father had left him…. Marinette had killed him, but he was the one who had decided to leave him, he was the one who chose to suit up and become a super villain. Gabriel Agreste had become a cold and stiff man, who used his free time to terrorize the citizens of the French capital when instead he could have been spending time with his son, a son who in those times needed a father more than anything._

_Plagg had left him. He took what he wanted from Adrien and once he was done he just left. He left Adrien in the lowest point of his life and he didn’t even care. Just like Nino and Alya did._

_And now Marinette… the love of his life, his beautiful, smart, caring wife, was leaving him. She was leaving him, just like everyone else did._

_Things hadn’t been the same for a long time, but he always thought that they would get better with time. They stood in shaking ground but they found balance. He loved her more than anything in the world, they were going to figure things out. Love could with everything, right?_

_But there she was, in front of him with teary eyes, not taking back her words. The last person he believed would be capable of leaving him was asking him for a divorce._

_He wanted to refuse, he wanted to drop to his knees and beg her to reconsider her decision. But in her eyes, he saw that nothing that he could say was going to change her mind. She didn’t want to stay with him._

_He didn’t want to let her go, he couldn’t live without her. But he was not going to force her, he loved her too much._

_“So should I leave now or in the morning?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well there it is :D  
> thank you so much for the response to this fic! it's crazy to see your comments and sweet words to this little idea that i had had in my mind for so long!  
> also one of my friends at uni is working on her english so she's been beta-reading my stuff so shout out to her :D
> 
> all the love, guys!
> 
> find me on tumblr buginettte !


	3. COLD AIR

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> no beta we die like men, i hope my proofread was enough but if not i swear i'll edit later :)  
> xx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> still setting the pace, and another flashback :)

Maybe Marinette was right.

Maybe he was a child in an adult’s body, _well,_ that wasn’t what she had said but he didn’t need to use her exact words to know the meaning behind them.

And, okay, he wasn’t in an “adult’s body” right now but that was beside the point. The point was that maybe Marinette was right and his mind lacked the maturity to understand how complex the real world around him could be.

When Adrien had seen the possibility of a new life, he didn’t go through the list of things that could be wrong about it, _not at all_.

He had imagined this utopia where everything would turn to be fantastic and every single little thing he would do as a teenager was going to turn out great. He was an idiot, an idiot who apparently had not seen enough movies because the complications of his situation were quite obvious and they were portrayed in many Hollywood movies about this particular subject.

Now his life was going just like one of those movies could go. It wasn’t shining in neon lights anymore, _oh no_ , after a week, those lights had burned out.

The first day, he realized he couldn’t be Adrien Agreste anymore, so he chose a different name to go with. Now all the new people he was about to meet would know him as Felix Fortier, that’s how he was going to introduce himself. He practiced the whole day and wrote the name in different places around his apartment so he could remember it easily. He wrote down in a paper the different questions people could make about his past, and changing details on his actual life he came up with a new background to the new persona he was going to be.

That was day one.

Day two was all about finding clothes that would fit him right.

He wasn’t as muscular as an adult as he had been as a teen, so the clothes were a little tighter than before; and he was shorter, but that was easy to fix by folding the endings of his pants and if necessary a pair of scissors would be useful. Though he wouldn’t know how to sew them… he wasn’t the one who did the sewing at home. He tried not to think much about it, his new life didn’t include a future ex-wife, not even an ex-girlfriend

Days third and four had been all about sleeping late, playing video games and eating all the food he could find in his refrigerator. Had he always been that hungry? He didn’t recall eating that much in his teen years, he had a diet to follow for his job as a model. He didn’t starve and he went for pizza and ice cream once in a while but he was never hungry like this, maybe it was a side effect of what was happening to him.

The constant meals and snacks only stopped when he left the refrigerator empty, that’s why on day seven he went to the closest supermarket to buy more food for his angry stomach. 

Once inside, he had selected everything he needed, rice, noodles, tons of vegetables, his usual grocery list, but this time he had added cookies, chips and three mixes of brownies and different cakes, finally he took a pack of beers, not seeing the issue with it until it was too late.

When he arrived at the cashier and was asked for his ID, Adrien didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t give his real ID because he wasn’t _Adrien Agreste_ anymore, the picture on it had been taken only a year ago and while he still looked like him, nothing could explain why he looked almost ten years younger. Also, there was the chance that the cashier knew who Adrien Agreste was and who was going to believe him then?

That situation had ended with Adrien leaving the beers aside and paying for the rest of the groceries. But the problem didn’t end there, on the contrary, it was the tip of the iceberg. It was a big realization.

His new identity did not only meant that he wasn’t going to be able to use his ID, it also meant that he wasn’t going to be able to use his credit cards in a short time. At some point, people were going to notice that Adrien Agreste wasn’t around anymore, especially Marinette who was chasing him to sign the divorce papers. And to find him the easiest way was to track his credit cards, and he didn’t want to be found.

But that wasn’t the worst part, without and ID he wasn’t going to be able to go to university either, as he had planned, or drive his car or anything for the matter! And what he was going to do next week? He had to pay rent!

Felix Fortier didn’t exist, he couldn’t pay without any money or certification, but neither did Adrien Agreste. He was in big trouble.

 But Adrien Agreste was not a dumb boy and after long hours of desperation, a thousand circles around his living room and a hundred screams, he came up with a plan. It wasn’t the brightest plan in the world but it was fast and it was going to get him through the week and that was the important thing at the moment.

He walked to three different ATMs around the city and taking out the highest sums of money he could of his account. He did the same but in different routes for three days, then he was able to have a big amount of money on his hand and it was subtle than carrying around a big bag full of cash around a city with so many people, not all of them honest and nice.

That had been the first thing on the list. Then came the hard part: finding someone who made fake certificates. That wasn’t something he was going to find so easily, he knew that. Still, he tried to find something across the internet but nothing had come out. It was obvious, those kind of people weren’t going to brag about their job on the internet, where they could be easily found and go to jail for it. He had to search for it in the old fashioned way. 

That’s how Adrien found himself in a creepy club on the outskirts of town. The music was bad and too loud, the smells were strong and nauseous, they made him miss the smell of camembert, at least he knew that it was the cheese, and well, the people didn't seem to be trustworthy either, but that didn’t matter, he wasn’t there to make friends, he was there on a mission and he knew how to deal with criminals, a few teenage boys were no big deal for him, not now when he had his teenage muscles and strength back.

But he didn’t need to try his old battle skills, after three hours in the club he had a new ID, passport and a fake scholar expedient. He didn’t expect things to be so easy, not when just days ago they seemed to be falling apart.

After that, Adrien saw the neon lights turn on again, his new life was back on its course. Or so he thought, next morning would be a wake-up call for him.

xx

He did not hear the bell ring.

He did not hear the first soft and paused knocks.

He did not hear the louder knocks and the claps against the door.

What he did hear was her voice. He heard it slow and far far away, but he did hear it. But he thought it was a dream. Hearing Marinette saying her name was sweet and he missed it so he kept his eyes closed and kept listening to her voice.

Hearing Marinette saying her name was sweet and he missed it so he kept his eyes closed and kept listening to her voice.

But the soft tune began to change and angry pitch said his name, now screaming more than his name.

“Adrien I know you’re in there! Open the door!” That was the first sentence his brain processed on its entirety “This is serious, Adrien! You can’t ignore me forever, please open the goddamn door!” He felt the need to tell her a joke about his selection of words, but that wasn’t a good idea.

It was better to just open the door.

Adrien sighed. He rubbed his face and shook his hair, walking to the door. He passed through the mess that his living room was, full of clothes he had been trying to fix, plates of late night snacks, the TV still on with the game he had been hours playing, the reflection on it was the proof of it.

The reflection on the TV was proof of another thing too.

He was a teenager. He couldn’t open the door.

“ADRIEEEEN! I CAN HEAR THE TV!” Oh no, no, no, no, NO!.

Marinette couldn’t see him like this! If she saw him then it was all over for him. No new life, no new teen years, no old dreams.

Marinette was going to recognize him, she was going to ask questions, and she was going to come with her own deductions, and she wasn’t going to believe the situation was impossible, she had faced a good amount of impossible situations and conquered them all. She was going to ruin everything.

He had to get out of there.

Without taking anything but a worn out hoodie, he ran back to his room and opened the window, ready to jump out of there.

Looking down, at the streets full of people and made of cold stone, that didn’t seem to be a good idea. He was a teenager again but he didn’t have his ring back, which meant he didn’t count with any extraordinary power to make the escapade simple.

But Marinette was screaming and he knew, he just knew that she was going to open the door sooner or later, what meant that he didn’t have any other option.

He wasn’t religious but he made the cross sign before putting one leg out of the window. He was going to do this, with or without powers. He wasn’t throwing away his second chance at life.

The last thing he heard before being outside was Marinette warning that she was coming in.

**xx**

**Eight months ago…**

_Marinette wasn’t home._ Again.

_Adrien couldn’t remember the last time had come back from his work and had found his wife sitting on the living room couch she enjoyed so much._

_It was luck if Marinette appeared for an hour, so why was he so disappointed that she wasn’t there? Isn’t that how things were now? Marinette enjoying her luxurious lifestyle as the CEO of Agreste’s Designs, eating at expensive restaurants, meeting important people and laughing with them of ludicrous and vain subjects._

_That’s what it was. Marinette was living this wonderful golden life while he fixed computers and cracked iPhone screens in a little town in district three, while he came back to an empty gray and cold apartment with no one to hug him, no one to talk to him._

_Adrien threw his jacket in her cherished couch, the stupid, stupid couch, he didn’t want to buy but that she convinced him to buy after blinking at him with those big baby blue eyes. Those damn eyes, and that damn smile, and that damn everything that made his wife so irresistible, those damn little details that he had to imagine because he hadn’t seen her in so long._

_She had been traveling, other of the multiple good things she was living. But she was supposed to be back by now, she was supposed to be there at home, with him. Why wasn’t she here? Why everyone that he loved left him alone?_

_Too frustrated and angry to do anything, Adrien went straight to bed. His safe cozy bed, where he could find a piece of Marinette and pretend life was good and that she was there. He took the pillow beside and him and hugged it close, sinking his face into it and smelling Marinette’s perfume. It was a mix of the different brand perfumes she used but it was still_ Marinette’s scent. _He held it tight, as he closed his eyes, getting ready to sleep and leave this awful day behind._

_When the creak of the entrance door echoed across the apartment, Adrien threw the pillow back to its place and turned off the light on his nightstand._

_“Adrien, I’m back!” Her voice was accompanied by the sound of heels hitting the wooden floor. “Adrien, are you home?”_

_Without shoes, it was harder to hear her steps but he knew she was walking towards the bedroom anyway._

_She turned up the light on the roof and sighed._

_“Adrien, I’m back,” She said it again, this time without the same enthusiasm._

_He didn’t answer, he didn’t know why._

_“I know you’re awake, you don’t sleep in that position,” He felt how she sat on the mattress “Okay...”_

_Marinette didn’t speak again._

_She changed clothes, she threw some clothes into her closet, she fixed her jewelry at her nightstand. She left to the kitchen and came back with a mug when she finished the beverage she went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth, probably did her skincare routine. She did all those things in extreme silence._

_Marinette didn’t speak to him again. He didn't speak to her either, he still couldn’t find a reason why._

_She got into bed after what Adrien seemed to be an eternity but had only been two hours. She turned off the lights, and she gave his back to him._

_He did the same._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) i'm not dead yay!  
> 2) things are happening and i don't have the motivation/time to write much anymore  
> 3) there's been a lot of discourse on the fandom lately what doens't help my motivation  
> 4) but don't ya worry i'm not abandoning any of my fics, this only means that i may take longer  
> 5) thank you for reading it means a lot  
> hope you all the best!!! thanks again  
> find me on tumblr: buginettte


	4. SUBSTITUTE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> my other favorite duo makes an appearance!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so idk if you know the band "the cab" but their song "lovesick fool" is exactly how i imagine adrien in this fic, so you should give it a listen ;)  
> i also have a playlist that i always listen when i write this, if you're interested i'll leave it here:  
> https://8tracks.com/cammiebug/the-other-side-of-the-door

Adrien took another bite of his sandwich and threw the plastic bag where it came, in the trash can of his kitchen. The sandwich tasted good, it was one of Adrien’s favorite baguette’s, the one Marinette used to buy for him every time she passed by the bakery. Today it didn’t taste so good.

What a horrible week! Nothing like he had imagined his first week as a teenager to be. Being a teen was bringing him more problems than solutions to his life, and that made him angry.

Not only he had to plan his life and create a scam so he could be able to go to school without his parents signing the forms, no, he also had to it while avoiding Marinette’s multiple calls and secrets visits trying to reach him for another change in their divorce agreements. Couldn’t she just disappear? For like, five minutes, that would be enough for him to put his mind at ease.

 He had considered changing apartments, but that wasn’t an option. They wouldn’t sell an apartment to a seventeen-year-old. Now Adrien was regretting his age choice. A student residence wasn’t a good plan either; he wanted to come and go as he wished and there he wouldn’t be able to do it.

Adrien gave another bite to the baguette as he looked at a death point. What was he going to do now?

He kept eating, too sad to do anything productive he started playing with his lucky charm, twisting it, twirling it, passing it across his fingers, when suddenly when he wasn’t paying much attention to it, it became to feel warm.

Adrien looked down at his hand. The charm, now black and white, was changing once again. One of its rectangular pieces was slowly turning back to its original color. The black had turned lighter and soft dots of pink could be seen if the light hit the right place.

“Great!” He shouted sarcastically. Another problem to add to the list.

He hadn’t paid much attention to the charm after realizing it had changed colors, but he still carried on the right pocket of his pants, as an old habit of him and because he suspected that the charm was somehow involved in him turning into a teen.

If he only had someone to ask about this sort of things like he had before.

Plagg, though at the beginning seemed more interested in eating the best cheeses Adrien could buy for him, was actually helpful once Adrien started asking the serious questions and heavy subjects started to surround him and Marinette. He would be helpful right now, but he wasn’t here, he had left him.

Frustrated, he threw the charm as far he could, so it would land at some place of his living room. With that trouble away, he tried once again to concentrate on his fake scholar papers and IDs, trying to think how to scam the school he wanted to enter.

Entering to a good school was important to him, it was a change of air of what had been his old school and without a villain to catch and a modeling job to take all over his time, he would focus on getting into the university he always dreamt of. But it didn’t matter if he had these magnificent fake certificates and fancy paper if he didn’t have any parents. He was stuck.

Giving up, he stood from the kitchen table and walked to the living room, looking for the lucky charm he had thrown just seconds ago. He hated to admit how much he needed that stupid charm to calm down. It was a part of him now, it once had been a bracelet that he would wear every day, but once things started to get rocky between Marinette and him, he had stopped using it, and instead, he kept it in his pocket; just like right now.

Adrien looked around his tiny apartment, it looked nothing like it normally did. Because of Marinette’s constant surprise visits, he never knew when he would have to escape so he had organized all of his stuff to make the job easier and as smooth as possible.

The apartment was clean, with only a few t-shirts laying around that Adrien had thrown intentionally to make it look more realistic. He had a few plates and glasses on the table beside the couch so in case she entered she would think he hadn’t been there for hours –Adrien wasn’t one to have dirty dishes around, except if he was out of the house and he hadn’t had time to clean them-. In resume, the apartment was intentionally organized to make Marinette believe that he was still living there, but not in there at the moments she appeared.

This new life was nerve wrecking. He needed to find a way to start school quickly, it was already the half of the semester if he wasn’t quick, this new life wasn’t going to anywhere.

The only idea he had in mind was to find someone who would fake to be his legal tutor, but it was extremely ludicrous. He could pay someone but how could he know if they were really going to go with his plan? The kind of people who would accept that kind of deal wasn't the kind of people you could trust.

He sighed and threw himself on the couch, he took the remote and changed the channels; maybe a movie would help him find inspiration for a new plan.

He changed channels several times until a beautiful panel of neon lights in Japanese caught his attention. He was a fool for neon and Japan, he admitted it.

It was some sort of documental on Japanese culture and the western consumption of it. It talked about the appropriation and misunderstandings of the Japanese society, how those misunderstands affected Japanese people, the perception of their own society, in between other different subjects.

This attracted Adrien’s attention, even more, he had always been interested in Japan, his love for manga and anime had been the beginning of his love of the culture. He had looked on the internet and read books about it, to get a deep understanding of the East Asian culture.

The documental finished with a question to the audience, which Adrien loved. Everything about it, the subject, the dialogue, the shots, the edition, just everything had been amazing and mesmerizing.  He waited for the credits to roll so he could look more of these incredible filmmakers.

When the creators’ names appeared on screen, Adrien felt like someone had kicked him in the stomach.

Of course, it was them! Of course, it was Alya and Nino! Who else could create such an incredible documental? No one, that was who.

After finishing high school, Alya had entered university to be a journalist and Nino had followed his dream of being a film maker, leaving music as a hobby. They never planned to work together, they were in a relationship and things could get messy, but after they graduated they realized they made a great team and the business built itself. Their first film had been acclaimed by the critic, and it only went uphill from there. They were just _that_ good.

They left him, but he could still admit they were great and talented.

Adrien pressed rewind to get their names and stared at the screen. He missed them, he missed them almost as much as he missed Marinette, but they chose Marinette, he had to accept that.

Losing them was as hard as losing Marinette, they were the most amazing pair he had ever crossed paths with, and they had been more than friends, they were part of his family. Sometimes they even acted like his parents.

Adrien fell off the couch, eyes wide open looking at the roof and a smile slowly drawing on his face.

Alya and Nino! They were the answer to all his problems!

Their hearts were too pure for their own good, he only needed a good story and he would have parents by the end of the day!

Adrien stood up and ran to his room to take his emergency backpack –yes, another measure against Marinette- it had everything he needed: money, food, fake identifications, a disposable phone and his keys.

He took his iPhone, charging on his night stand and wrote down the address of Nino and Alya’s studio on the maps apps. Once it charged it, he dropped it on his backpack and was ready to go.

But first, he needed to do a little stop half way.

**xx**

It took Adrien ten minutes in a bus and five minutes walking to get to his first stop. Then he was inside the hair salon for thirty minutes. After that, it took him fifteen minutes to get to Alya and Nino’s studio, and those fifteen minutes down the road could have been less but Adrien couldn’t help himself and stopped in front of every glass with his reflection on it.

Adrien Agreste was a brunette now, and he was not used to that, which made him feel uncomfortable. Adrien had always been blonde, the most he had done to his hair was once that he had dyed the tips of his hair green in a rebellious act against his father that ended in Marinette laughing for hours.

He did not look bad in this hair color, it was just strange. He had changed for bigger motives than just the aesthetic, it was necessary if he was going to meet with his old friends. Now he looked like a look alike of Adrien Agreste, and not Adrien himself, he looked like Felix.

Adrien stopped at the door of the studio, he had been here before a few times but it had been a long time ago, or so it seemed. He looked at the façade of the studio, a white door with a purple neon sign on it and big windows that let you see the waiting room inside. The room walls of the room were covered in movie and documental promotional posters, there were a few moving ones –those were TVs that Adrien had help install when Alya and Nino bought the place- running short trailers of their own material.

Now that he was in front of it, he started regretting his decision. How was he supposed to manipulate Alya and Nino without an excuse to be there in the first place? Why was he failing in making plans this week?

Before he could move away from the door and go back home, it opened and a tall brown man came out of the studio. It took Adrien a minute to recognize him.

He had let his hair grown, it was not long but the last time he had seen Nino he had been keeping his hair extremely short, military style, and now he had crazy spikes of hair falling on his forehead. Besides that, he looked exactly the same.

He was carrying a big backpack on his back and one big bag on each hand, he also looked worried.

“Alya, hurry!” He shouted back at the studio. He took a step to the front, stepping on Adrien’s feet, who had not been able to move in the presence of his ex-best friend.

“Fuck!” They shouted at the unison, but in very different tones.

“Oh, damn, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking, I’m sorry!” Nino put one of the bags on the ground so he could take him by his shoulder, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Adrien answered nervously, “I’m fine, it was an accident, it’s okay!” He stopped looking down at his feet and looked at Nino’s face.

Nino’s eyes popped in surprise and his mouth became a perfect “O”, but then his expression turned softer looking at the boy in front of him with a certain nostalgia.

“I’m Nino, what’s your name?” Nino extended his hand to him.

“A…Ah… Felix, I’m Felix!” Adrien shouted, almost giving away his real name. Damn, he had practiced!

Nino crooked a brow at him, but at the same time gave him an amused smile.

“Well, bonjour Felix, what were you doing at the door of our studio? Interested in movies?”

“Uh, yeah,” Adrien answered between clenched teeth. It was strange to talk with him after all that had happened, he didn’t feel comfortable pretending he was okay with this encounter when Nino left him behind. But he wasn’t Adrien now, he had to keep on the act. “I was wondering if you had a job available for me?” Uh, what? What was he thinking?

Nino kept quiet for a few seconds, analyzing the teenager in front of him.

“Mmm. I’m not sure I’ll have to ask my wife, but I’ll tell you something: if you help me carry this equipment I’ll give you a few euros, are you free now?”

Adrien didn’t have another choice but to accept the offer.

“A hundred percent free!” He faked excitement. Nino smiled and nodded at him in approval.

“Take the bag on the floor, take care all of these things are expensive,” Oh, Adrien knew that, he had helped Nino buy a lot of the first equipment they had.

“Alright, sir,” Adrien said, trying to be polite and keep his identity secret; he was good at that.

“Oh, don’t call me sir,” Nino laughed

“Who is calling you sir?” Alya giggled. She appeared behind them, with two bags of her own.

“Felix this is Alya, my wife, and partner. Lya this is Felix, a nice kid who is gonna help us take the equipment to our filming location,”

“Hello, Madame,” Adrien greeted with a smile. Alya did not smile back, but he looked straight at him with those killer eyes that seem to throw lasers out of them. She looked exactly the same, as beautiful and intimidating as she had always been.

“Felix?” She asked, “Felix, what?”

“Felix Fortier,” Adrien answered immediately, too scared to keep quiet.

“How old are you?”

“Alya…” Nino said between his teeth. She lifted a finger at him, ordering to stay quiet.

“I’m seventeen,”

“Shouldn’t you be at school?”

“Uh…” Yeah, he should, that’s what he wanted! “They let us go home early?”

Alya rose a brow. She did not believe him, and how could she when he had given an answer to a question. However, Alya sighed and rubbed her temples, finally smiling at him.

“Come with us, we are already late I’m not gonna instigate into this… for now,” Adrien smiled at the statement.

Nino put his hand high and looked at Adrien, wiggling his eye brows as a signal. It didn’t take more than that for Adrien to figure it out he wanted a high five. He still knew him well.

“Oh, C'mon we have no time!” Alya called. Though she hadn’t started walking either.

“Going, babe!” Nino shouted with joy, then he turned to Adrien and whispered in his ear, “We better move or she will kick our butts,”

Oh, Adrien knew how she was, Nino didn’t need to warn him.

Adrien nodded and followed Nino to the purple van parked one block down.

 

**xx**

_Eight months ago,…_

_Nino and Alya were whispering in the kitchen. Again._

_This was the second day he was sleeping in their living room, and it was the second day he heard them whispering in the kitchen. Talking about him. Talking about him and Marinette._

_It was a surprise for him that Alya let him stay, he thought he would kick him out of the house at the moment he stepped inside of the apartment, but she had not. She hadn’t talked to him and she had tried to not be in the same room as him, but she hadn’t kicked him out, which was nice._

_What wasn’t nice were those two gossiping about his love life. They thought he was asleep so they weren’t so careful of their tone, that let Adrien hear pieces of the conversation, enough parts to know that both of his friends were on Marinette’s side. Why wasn’t he surprised? Of course, they were! Marinette always took all the good things to herself!_

_Adrien made some noise, to warn the couple that he was waking up. When he did, he heard them end their conversation and start moving around the kitchen like they were making breakfast._

_He stood up from the couch and rubbed his eyes, putting on an act, making them believe he hadn’t heard a word._

_“Morning,” He said to announce himself once he entered the kitchen._

_“Good morning, bro,” Nino smiled at him. He was faking it, Adrien could tell._

_“Hi,” Alya said and passed by him, leaving the kitchen._

_“Isn’t she sweet,” Adrien whispered._

_“You know how she is,” Nino said, “Mari always comes first,”_

_Adrien giggled amused. Marinette, the one everyone loved, always number one. Always before him._

_“Things are going to get back to normal, Adrien. Mari and you will find your way back to each other,” Nino patted his back._

_Adrien looked over his shoulder, to his best friend. Why did every move he made seemed fake? It wasn’t real support, it was him feeling pity. He pitied Adrien’s miserable life, just like everyone did._

_“You don’t believe that yourself,” Adrien shook him off._

_“You guys need to talk—_

_“That won’t happen.”_

_“C’mon, Adrien, you need to talk to her. This is just another obstacle for you guys, ” Nino said._

_“This is not another obstacle, not for her!” Adrien shouted, “Give me one reason to go and talk to Marinette. If she doesn’t want me in the house then maybe she has no intention to talk to me! In fact, I can assure you that she doesn’t want to talk: she decided to get divorced all by herself,”_

_“Adrien is not like that. You’ve been at rock bottom for a long time but if you guys just—_

_“She wants us to get divorced, Nino! Talking won’t fix a fucking thing!” Why was he trying so hard to give him empty advice? Why was he pretending to care about him?_

_“With that attitude, of course, it won’t! Why are you so entitled in staying like this?! You don’t do anything to fix it,”_

_“Uh? You think I want to get a divorce?” If there was something I could do to fix it, I would have done it already!”_

_“You obviously have not, idiot! You are angry all the time, you watch Marinette from a far but don’t try to talk to her, and when she tries to get close to you, you ignore her!” Nino shouted, “You treat her as if she killed someone!”_

_Well, she_ did _kill someone._

_“That’s not true!” Adrien shouted back, “The three of you leave me behind all the time! You live your happy lives without considering how I am feeling. You guys are happy and successful and enjoying life and I’m a big failure with no family. I’m damaged and you don’t even care! You are just like Marinette, living an incredible life while I’m suffering”_

_“What?!” Nino gave a step back. His eyes wide open in surprise as he gave a nervous laugh, “Please tell me this is a joke, Adrien. You think Marinette lives a great life? Damn, how long have you been ignoring her?”_

_“Why are on you on her side?! I expected this from Alya but not you. You’re supposed to be **my** friend! You’re supposed to be on my side and support me. My wife left me!”_

_“That’s not how it works, Adrien! Wow, I’ve been trying to see the situation from your point of view, like I have done all those times before but now, now, I understand why she left you!”_

_A sword on his back would have hurt less than that._

_Adrien opened his mouth but no words came out, he was psychologically exhausted._

_“I knew it,” Adrien shook his head, “You’re on her side too, you are just faking to care,”_

_“What the fuck, Adrien?” Adrien turned his back to him, “Hey! Adrien!”_

_He did not turn back. He didn’t need compassion, mercy or pity of someone who had once been his friend. He didn’t need anything from people who did not care about him._

_Adrien took his things and put them inside of his backpack as fast he could and he left Nino’s apartment without looking back._

_Once again, Marinette had taken something precious from him._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woah im on a roll i wrote 2 chapters for 2 fics in less than a day woaah..  
> anyways haha, i hope you liked! the introductory part is over with this chapter, so next will start the real deal :D
> 
> hope you enjoyed it! thank you for reading xx

**Author's Note:**

> those were like 6 pages of angst, as you can see that's what i write when i'm blocked in my other stories (i should be writing those, i know)  
> couldn't take this idea out of my head so i had to write it down :)  
> i'll keep writing this but i can't tell you when. also (for what i've had planned) this will count with lots of flashback just forewarning you c:  
> thank you for reading!  
> you can find me on tumblr: buginettte.tumblr.com  
> xx


End file.
